The economic activity in Argentina lost steam in September, confirming its stagnation trend and confirming the forecasts of a sharp slowdown in the pace of growth for the next year.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec), the Argentine economy contracted by 0.3% in September compared to August, when the indicator had registered a slight increase of 0.7%.
In comparison with September 2021, the index, which serves as an estimate to measure the quarterly variation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), increased by 4.8%, reaching the 19th consecutive interannual increase.
However, this interannual increase registered in September represented a deceleration in compared to the percentage accumulated in 12 months measured in August (6.6%).
“Economic activity is showing signs of exhaustion in the last part of the year”, pointed out the consulting firm Orlando Ferreres y As in a statement.
The consultant ACM, in a comment reproduced by Clarín, highlighted that “the slowdown in growth was expected due to the hardening of access to foreign currency for imports, which was adopted with the aim of protecting the Central Bank’s liquid reserves”. The company estimated that in 2022 the growth of the Argentine economy should be around 4.9%.
The consultancy LCG, in turn, stressed that in a scenario of “economic uncertainty, rising inflationand higher cost of savings, consumption is anticipated and thus demand drives activity [econômica]”.
However, this dynamic may even be “successful” in the short term. term, but “is not sustainable in the long term due to the deterioration of installed capacity”.
According to official data, accumulated economic growth in the first nine months of the year was 6.2%.
